Strangers in a Bar
by Holz9364
Summary: Two strangers with a lot in common meet in a bar. They talk, blissfully unaware of who the other is.
1. Strangers in a Bar

**Strangers in a Bar**

_**A/N - What if two strangers met in a bar? Both discussing their problems, both blissfully unaware of who the other is?**_

_**Just an idea I got whilst watching Greys, everyone goes to that bar, surely these two must have crossed paths at some point? Maybe…**_

_**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Greys or anything about it!**_

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><p>Preston Burke sat in a bar, at the bar. This wasn't just any old bar, it was Joes and he was terrified every time the door opened that someone from his past would step through it.<p>

Preston was only in town for a week, he had been needed for a private surgery, a patient of his who had been moved to Seattle, his flight home was scheduled for midday tomorrow, so now he found himself in the bar he had spent so much time in, just wondering if he'd ever had the courage to walk into the hospital across the road ever again.

As Preston sat feeling sorry for himself with his third pint of beer in his hand his attention was turned to the TV screen, there was a report on a big pile up car crash that had happened this morning, most of the fatalities had gone to Seattle Grace - Mercy West hospital. The new name of the hospital sounded odd even in his head, it was clear that a lot had changed since he'd worked there.

He followed the great discoveries made there, the amazing surgeries, the news stories about the hospital, and the articles. He'd heard about the shooting, he'd wanted to call Cristina or Shepherd or Richard, but he hadn't been able to bring himself to do it. Preston sighed, finishing his 3rd beer and ordering a 4th.

The door opened once again and on autopilot Preston glanced at it, but it wasn't anyone he knew. It was a tall redheaded man who looked as miserable as Preston felt. The man sat next to Preston at the bar and ordered a pint of beer, he glanced at the man next to him, acknowledging Preston with a nod of his head.

Joe handed him his beer and motioned up at the TV, "How many were injured?"

"12." The man answered, taking a hefty swig of beer, "2 were dead before they got to the hospital and another 3 died in surgery."

Joe shook his head, as if he couldn't believe it, "I'm surprised the residents aren't here drinking their sorrows away."

The man nodded, chuckling a little "They all went home for a party to drink away the pain. They all lost someone in an OR today, I think they took it pretty hard."

Preston thought for a moment and decided to talk to this guy, "They say that they come in 7's."

The man next to him looked at Preston in confusion, "Excuse me?"

"At Seattle Grace, there was a superstitious theory that deaths came in 7's." Preston said.

The man nodded, "Luckily we only lost 5, I don't think anyone would have been able to take it if we'd lost 2 more."

"I used to work there." Preston said, Joe watched him curiously, he knew the connection between the two men but he was pretty certain that the two men didn't know of the connection at all.

Owen seemed to look a lot less confused at this news, "Oh, and you once lost 7 patients in one day?"

Preston shook his head, "6, but before that point the superstition was 7. I'm Preston." He shook the mans hand as he said, "Owen." Luckily neither of them gave their second names.

"What kind of work did you do at the hospital?" Owen asked casually.

"I was a cardiothoracic surgeon." Preston answered, "What about you?"

"A trauma surgeon." Owen replied, "I worked in Iraq before the hospital, I've been there almost 3 years now."

"I was there for 6." Preston told the man, he seemed to like this stranger, "Best days of my life."

Owen smiled, "Yeah, I know how you feel."

"Out of the 5 interns assigned to Doctor Bailey 7 years ago, how many made it to residency?" Preston asked curiously.

"When I started working at the hospital all 5 of them were still around. One died and one got cancer then ran away. So only three are left, and it was two for a while after the shooting." Owen replied, not looking at Preston, he must have known one of the interns that had been Baileys.

Preston nodded, "Who died?" He asked, almost dreading hearing the answer.

"George O'Malley." Owen answered sadly, he'd liked George a lot, he'd been a trauma guy, he'd been his guy.

Preston's eyes widened, "Oh God, I liked O'Malley." He muttered, "He lived with me for a while, what happened to him?"

"He got hit by a bus." Owen said quietly, "He was almost unrecognisable when he was brought into the ER."

"I really am sorry to hear that." Preston said, his eyes staring into the distance.

"The one who ran away was Izzie Stevens." Owen said, before Preston could ask, "She married Alex Karev, then she got cancer, she nearly died, she got better and she left."

That didn't sound like the Izzie that Preston had known, "Izzie changed after the love of her life died, I don't think she ever stopped loving Denny Duqeutte."

Owen nodded slightly, but didn't say another word.

"So the final three who made it to residency are Meredith, Karev and Cristina." Preston stated.

Owen nodded, "You knew them?" He asked, now he was the curious one.

Neither of them seemed to notice Joe watching them curiously, wondering where this conversation would end.

"Yes." Preston answered, still not looking at Owen, "I knew them throughout their internships, from their first day." He smiled and turned to the trauma surgeon, "On the first day of an internship at Seattle Grace the chief gives this speech that only two will be left at the end of the internship, I always thought it would be Meredith and Cristina."

"It almost wasn't." Owen admitted, drinking from his 3rd pint now, "Cristina had to operate on her best friends husband with a man holding a gun to her head, after going through that she had post traumatic stress and she quit the program."

Preston tried to hide his surprise, "Meredith got married? To Derek?" He asked.

Owen simply nodded.

"My guess is Cristina came back to the program, she couldn't stay away from surgery for that long, it's her life." Preston said quietly, almost to himself.

"It was her life, and then something changed." Owen said, frowning a little, "But yes, in the end she got better and she's back to her bitter self now, terrorising her interns and competing for the best surgeries."

Preston chuckled, "Sounds like Cristina."

Owen smiled and nodded, "Did you know her well?"

Preston nodded, "We were good friends." He admitted.

Owen finished his pint, vowing silently that it was his last, he needed to get home, "It was nice meeting you Preston, but I really ought to get home or my wife's party will have the police arriving soon."

Joe laughed as Owen paid him, and Preston nodded, "It was nice to meet you Owen."

Owen walked out of the bar, blissfully unaware of who he had just met, talked and drank with.

Joe glanced at Preston, giving him a pint, "This one's on the house." He said as he slid it across the bar, "Do you know who that man is?"

Preston frowned, "Owen…" He replied, trailing off and not understanding the question.

"Owen Hunt." Joe said, "As in the husband of Cristina Yang-Hunt."

Prestons eyes widened, "He's Cristina's husband?"

Joe nodded.

"Cristina got married?"

Joe nodded.

"And that was her husband?"

Joe nodded.

"Seriously?"

"Seriously."

"Seriously?"

"Seriously!"

So Preston Burke left the bar, not so blissfully unaware of the identity of the man he had met in the bar, but he had closure at least, he knew now that Cristina was happy, that she'd moved on and that she'd found a very good man, so although that man hadn't been him and he'd messed up big time with her, he was happy, so very happy for her.

**THE END.**


	2. You Met a Stranger in a Bar?

_You Met a Stranger in a Bar?_

_**A/N - A couple of people wanted to see Cristina's opinion of Burke and Owen meeting so I decided that it was actually a great idea and wrote this little piece to add on to the story!**_

_**DISCLAIMER: It isn't mine!**_

_**Enjoy! =)**_

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><p>When Owen Hunt walked into his house he felt old. The place was a mess, but he didn't mind. He walked into the living room to see Lexie and Avery making out on the couch. April and Stark were talking over beers in the kitchen. Derek and Mark were leaning against a wall, Derek looked amused as Mark glared at Lexie and Avery. Callie and Arizona were sitting together in the kitchen, a little away from April and Stark. Karev was dancing with Lucy in the living room, as were a few other people. The music seemed to be coming from an old boom box that looked like something he'd seen in Meredith's house before. And then there was the best part.<p>

Owen laughed out loud when he saw them, a grin spread across his face and he shook his head in amusement.

Meredith and Cristina were dancing on the dining room table, a habit of theirs it seemed. They were obviously pretty drunk and they didn't care that they were on the table, they looked like they were having a great time. Owen shook his jacket off and walked into the kitchen, grabbing a beer from the fridge. He made his way over to Derek and Mark.

"Have you noticed about their habit to dance on tables?" Owen asked Derek by way of greeting as he approached the two men.

Derek glanced at the two women with a smile, "Have you noticed that nothing about them is normal?" He retaliated.

Owen chuckled his agreement, "The twisted sisters." He simply said, and Derek only shook his head in amusement.

"Did you finish operating on the guy with half a windscreen in his chest?" Mark asked, tearing his eyes away from his ex to look at the trauma surgeon.

His eyes darkened a little, "No, he died on the table." He replied, taking another drink from his beer.

Owen suddenly got a rather genius idea, "How long have you two worked at Seattle Grace?" He asked out of the blue.

The question didn't seem to bother the two men, Derek glanced at Mark, "Well I moved here to get away from him after he slept with my wife-"

Mark cut in, "And then had an affair with his dirty mistress."

"Meredith wasn't my dirty mistress." Derek shot back, turning back to an amused Owen, "And that was about 7 years ago now."

Mark nodded, "And I came to Seattle to win back Derek's wife a few years after he left so I've been here for about 4 and a half years."

Owen processed this, "So Shepherd, you would have been here when Meredith and Cristina were just starting out as interns?"

Derek smirked a little at that, "I started on the same day that they started their internship." He replied.

Owen was about to ask him if he had known the Preston that he had met in the bar when a pair of arms encircled him, he turned around into her and a rather drunken Cristina welcomed him with a kiss. Owen laughed as he pulled away from the kiss, "Hey."

"Hey." Cristina said brightly.

At that moment Meredith made her way over to the little group and Mark smirked, "Oh speak of the dirty mistress, here she is."

Meredith made a face at him, "At least he married his dirty mistress." She said with a look that challenged the man.

Mark mocked being hurt, "Ooh, low blow." He said, but it was clear the remark hadn't bothered him as he walked away to the kitchen to steal some more of Owens beer.

"Where have you been?" Cristina asked Owen as she leant against the wall, sharing a bottle of tequila with Meredith.

"I went to Joes." Owen replied, "I met a guy there, he used to work at Seattle Grace."

"Ooh, anyone we'd know?" Meredith asked with curious eyes.

"Probably, he knew you. He said you and him were close Cristina. And he knew about you and Shepherd." Owen said, aiming the last part towards Meredith.

Meredith and Cristina shared a look, "Did he tell you his name?" Cristina asked as she took a drink of the tequila.

"Uh yes, Preston." Owen said casually, not realising the impact this sentence would have.

Cristina spat out her tequila, Meredith's eyes widened and Derek choked on his beer.

Owen frowned, "So you all know him?" He asked.

Derek looked at Owen with a look that said 'how do you NOT know him?' and said, "Yes, we all knew Preston Burke very well."

It was then Owens turn to be surprised, "That was Burke? I sat and had a conversation with Burke at Joes?"

Meredith seemed amused by this as she patted Cristina on the back, "So what did you two talk about?" She asked.

Owen was still confused, and a little uncomfortable now, "Well he was asking about surgeries and the trauma with the car crash today, then he asked about the interns who had started 7 years ago."

"He asked about all of us?" Cristina asked, her eyes narrowing at Meredith who merely shrugged.

"Yeah, he said on the first day the chief had said only two of them would make it and he thought it would be Meredith and Cristina." Owen said, "So I told him about George getting hit by a bus and Izzie leaving and you leaving for a while after the shooting."

"You told Burke about that?" Cristina asked, she groaned and Owen simply said, "Well how was I supposed to know it was him, you only ever refer to him as Burke."

"Oh that's not you." Derek assured him, "She always called him Burke to his face when they were together, I never heard her call him Preston."

"I heard it once." Meredith piped up making Owen feel very happy that Cristina always called him Owen unless they were working or she was annoyed with him.

"He better not come anywhere near the hospital." Cristina said, and Derek laughed, "He won't, he knows for a fact that if he shows his face to any of us again we'll hit him."

"I would have if I'd known who he was." Owen said with a hint of anger, he knew what that man had done to Cristina and unbeknownst of his identity he'd had drinks and talked with the guy!

"I never mentioned anything about us." Owen said to Cristina, and it seemed this was some small comfort to her, "That's good, at least that way he can still torture himself over if I'm happy or not, the jackass."

Meredith agreed with a nod and a swig of tequila.

The two women left the men for their dance podium and a quick glance at the kitchen told Derek and Owen that Mark had found a Nurse to keep him busy for a while.

"You have nothing to worry about by the way." Derek said, as if reading the mans mind. Owen turned to his colleague and friend who smiled at him, "I could tell from the wedding that you were different. Burke forced this big traditional wedding on her and she didn't want it." Derek seemed quite thoughtful, "She's like Meredith, she just wanted something simple, just them, Meredith and me at city hall but he forced this huge 200 guest wedding on her and it all fell apart."

Already Owen hated the guy, but he listened as Derek went on, "You gave her what she wanted, a quiet wedding with the people she loved, in a house rather than a church and without the white dress and the isle, and she loves you so much more for it." Derek finished, still smiling at Owen, he understood Owen a lot more than he knew, Cristina and Meredith were so alike that sometimes it was a relief that he and Owen could talk about the crazy woman they had married.

"Thanks." Owen said, returning Derek's smile as he turned back to his beautiful wife dancing once more on the table, she was laughing and her eyes were bright and happy and not for the first time he felt very lucky to have Cristina in his life every single day.

At the end of the day meeting Burke hadn't changed anything, it had only made him realise how hard it had been to make Cristina love him, but getting there and getting that love from her, it was amazing, and that feeling he got at the top of the mountain where he could see everything so clearly was worth the long, hard climb.

**The End for real this time! **

**=)**


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